Friday, 7 November 2014

My ultimate chocolate brownies

I know I have given you another lovely brownie recipe already but this one is rather special to me - because as of this year,
this mother of a teen and an almost-teen finds her
services as the "birthday cake baker" sadly no
longer required: no more mega bakes for school, and, in the case of
my now 14 year old, also no more birthday cakes at home... in fact,
for his big day last month he didn't even want a party but
invited four of his friends to lunch at a local Italian restaurant instead - crazy or what! (However, my hopes were
raised a few weeks ago when there was talk of a "bake sale" one (unspecified) morning at their school. Trying
desperately not to appear too keen/needy I would "casually“ enquire
about said event every day: "Oh I almost forgot – didn't you say
there was some kind of cake thing at school sometime?" Answers,
however, were not forthcoming – until the last time when I was
blithely told: "Oh yeah that was yesterday – didn't you know? I
thought you knew..." - "No. I. Didn't." (through clenched teeth). "Were.They.Any.Good?" - "Nah – not really...")

BUT the one bake
that both my children (and especially my son) still regularly ask for are these chocolate brownies and I was SO happy to provide him with
these beauties as a sort-of-cake... I've tried A LOT of recipes over
the years but these are simply the best: they are so delectable in
their rich gooey-ness yet so easy (as are, in fact, all brownies) and
they work each and every time.

Here are some I made earlier (this year) - to celebrate the arrival of my son's
"Hannibal Lecter" mask (don't ask) - and with a "Tardis" stencil by his sister...

I'm sure you all
have your own tried-and-tested chocolate brownies recipe but I do
urge you to give these a try – you will not regret it. (The recipe
is slightly adapted from Nigella (Lawson)'s How to be a domestic goddess book):

375g butter

375g dark chocolate (min.
70% cocoa)*

6 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla
extract

500g caster sugar

225g plain flour

1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to
180° / 160° fan oven.

Line a ca 33
x 23 cmbakingtin with baking paper.

Put the chocolate
and butter into a large microwaveable bowl. Microwave on
medium heat for ca 2 mns (checking/stirring every 30 secs) until
melted.

In a bowl
beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.

Measure the flour into another bowl and
add the salt.

Beat the eggs
and sugar into the chocolate mixture followed by
the flour.

Beat to combine and then pour
into the baking tin.

Bake for about 25 –
45 mns.**

When it's ready, the top should be
dried to a paler brown, there should be some
cracks all over and a skewer inserted into the middle should come out
almost clean.

Let cool completely before cutting.

Notes:

*Lidl sell fantastic-value
74% dark chocolate for 0.85€/100g.

**The baking time
DOES vary from oven to oven so DO check after 20 mns or so.

About Me

I'm passionate about easy, tasty and affordable home cooking! I'm also a mother of two and I live in Brussels, Belgium. I'm a keen and enthusiastic home cook with a vast repertoire of "tried-and-tested" dishes - all easy to make and delicious to eat. I'm also a passionate bargain hunter and can often be found lurking in the aisles of Lidl and Aldi sniffing out their foodie treasures...